Interior Decoration Ideas: Floating Shelves Tips and Tricks

Floating shelves that can be fitted into the walls are not only sleek, but also very contemporary and neat. You can transform your nooks into functional spots and also help you in customizing your workspace. Floating shelves and their ability has been grossly underrated in our homes up until now. You can use these eight ways to effectively employ floating shelves into your décor and also offer smart tips to install them correctly.

Occupy a Nook

[Image: Pitsou Kedem Architect]

The thing about floating shelves is that you can fit them even in the most oddly shaped nooks. Just custom cut them and fit them into recessed arches. This will not only use the space more creatively, but you can also use it to place eclectic pieces for display.

Place long shelves across a window

[Image: Shirley Meisels]

If you are suffering at the hands of lack of storage in your kitchen, then these floating shelves will come to your rescue. It is especially helpful when you lack wall space to install more cabinets. These long shelves can be installed on your windows without compromising the ventilation from the windows and also gives you a lot of additional storage. It is not very difficult to install floating shelves on windows. The only prerequisite is that the windows should be narrow and capable of supporting planks of shelves. It may, however, be trickier to place these shelves if there are no walls between windows.

Once your shelves are in place, you can store glassware and airy pieces to maximum sunlight in your kitchen.

Balance the Vignette

[Image: Lucy Call]

Align the shelves alternately on the left and right side of the wall for an asymmetrical appearance. In this offset arrangement, you can use the double height spacing between the alignments for display of taller items.

Add the length and sleekness to design

[Image: Laura Kirar Design]

The floating shelves can be used to add length and sleekness to your décor. These long shelves will also allow you to rotate the art objects easily and get a fresh look every now and then. In this image, the shelves are compatible with the long desk underneath offering some great bedroom decorating ideas. Together, they give a streamlined appearance.

Go around the corner

[Image: Tim Clarke Design]

You can use a continuous style of shelving around the corner for a contemporary and stylish look. Although for this kind of solution, you would require much larger space to avoid bumping into a corner and prevent disruption of movement. You can involve a professional even if the design is too technical for you.

Use the customization with corkboard

[Image: Avonlea Holmes]

You can fully customize your workspace by adding a corkboard between your desk and the lowest floating shelf. The work area has been further lighted up with the help of three pendant lights right above the work area. You can also consider lighting under the shelf.

Match the shelves to the rest of the décor

[Image: Crown Point Cabinetry]

It can be very helpful to keep the kitchen utensils and other items of utility close at hand. As one of best kitchen decorating ideas, you can blend it your floating shelves with the rest of the décor by using the same material or paint or even stain the shelves so that they match cabinetry.

Create a thin storage

[Image: Barlis Wedlick Architects, Tribeca Studio]

The wasted space on the wall can be used to hang vertical rows of floating shelves that are narrow but provide enough storage space and visual interest. These shelves can be used for the storage of books or even hold other items.

[Image: Maggie Stephens Interiors]

You can also think of a creative solution where you can place a bar cart below stack of floating shelves for symmetry and create an interesting space. The cart can hold the bottles while the shelves can be used for holding myriad other items.

Tips to Install Floating Shelves

[Image: Magnolia Home]

All it takes is one crash of floating shelves to know the importance of its installation. Here are some tips that can be used for proper and secure installation of these shelves to avoid such accidents.

Use a stud finder to locate a stud in the wall where you would like to hang the shelves. The idea is to get at least one fastener secured to a stud.

With the help of a pencil, mark the areas where each fastener will be added. Using a level, ensure that all the marks are in a straight line.

If you do not have a wall stud to fasten into, it is advised to use the anchors. Anchors are identified as per the weight they are capable of holding. When choosing the anchors, make sure that you pick the one that can hold more weight than the actual weight of your shelves.

When choosing the anchors, it is better to talk to a professional who knows about the technicalities associated with an anchor. Since the factors are too wide to be listed here, you must talk to someone at the local hardware store before you make the purchase. To get the accurate idea, explain what type of walls you have and what are you planning to hang on them.

These quick interior decoration ideas and tips will make your project of installing floating shelves around the house more fun and something that can be accomplished easily. These tips use a bit of creativity and a lot of logic to make not just décor sense, but also functional sense.